ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Movement Science
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the cognitive benefits of physical activity in young peopleView all 7 articles
Effects of Physical Activity on Executive Function and Its Subdomains in Children Aged 5--6
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing Normal University School of Sports Science and Physical Education, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of physical activity on the executive function of 5–6-year-old children and to provide a theoretical and empirical basis for further research on improvements in the executive function of children caused by physical activity. Methods: A total of 170 children (5–6 years old) from several kindergartens were selected via multistage stratified sampling. All the children wore 7-day accelerometers (ActiGraph GT3X) to measure their daily physical activities. Parents completed the preschool children's executive function questionnaire (BRIEF-P) to assess their daily executive function. Results: 1) The total duration of physical activity (TPA) was 110.84 ± 22.52 min/day, the duration of low-intensity physical activity (LPA) was 36.23 ± 7.53 min/day, and the duration of medium-and high-intensity physical activity (MVPA) was 74.55 ± 16.77 min/day. A total of 82.6% of the children reached the recommended amount of MVPA. 2) After adjusting for body mass index (BMI), parents' highest educational background and parents' total monthly income, MVPA was negatively correlated with children's total executive function score (β=- 0.217, p=0.007, 95%CI: -0.374 to -0.060, R2=0.034), inhibition function score (β=- 0.103, p=0.003, 95%CI: -0.170 to -0.036, R2=0.062), cognitive flexibility score (β=- 0.079, p=0.006, 95%CI: -0.135 to -0.023, R2=0.038) and working memory score (β=- 0.090, p=0.015, 95%CI: -0.163 to -0.018, R2=0.018). 3) There was an inverted U-shaped relationship between MVPA and children's total executive function and working memory performance. An MVPA of 71.39~83.33 min/day had the greatest effect on children's total executive function and working memory. 4) Compared with girls, boys' MVPA time per day increased, and their total executive function, inhibitory function and working memory improved. Boys' TPA time per day increased, and their cognitive flexibility improved. Conclusion: Physical activity can improve the executive function of children aged 5--6 years to some extent. MVPA can improve children's executive function and subdomains, and there is a correlation between boys' physical activity and executive function.
Keywords: physical activity, Executive Function, children aged 5--6, Inhibitory Control, cognitive flexibility, working memory
Received: 11 Jul 2025; Accepted: 01 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Chen, Tan and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhaowen Tan
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.